Piston-ring.



A. A. FOSSTON.

PISTON RING. APPLICATION FILED MAY 6.1914- 1,147,22& Patented Juiy 20,1915.

WITNfiSES v A INVENTOR 65m I 14.1%.5570? 3) Hi5 A'T'TORNEKS a;

OLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO-,WASHINUTON. D

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 1915.

Application filed May 6, 1914. Serial N 0. 836,673.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AXEL A. Foss'roN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piston-Rings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved piston ring forengine cylinders; and, to such ends, generally stated, the inventionconsists of the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafterdescribed and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view, showing theimproved piston ring; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portlon of thepiston ring shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig 3 is a section taken approximately on the line a 00 of Fig. 1.

The piston ring 1, like most piston rings, is cut through at 2, so as tomake the said ring expansible and contractible under its own springtension. This piston ring, like ordinary piston rings, is also turnedwith a normal diameter slightly greater than the cylinder into which itis to be sprung when applied to the piston, so that it will therebymaintain close contact with the cylinder and compensate for wear. Inaccordance with my invention, the abutting ends of the piston ring areformed with notches or blade seats 3, which are preferably aboutone-third the width of the ring, and are simultaneously formed by amilling tool which cuts the said seats with parallel sides and withsegmental or curved inner end walls.

The seats 3 receive and closely fit a fiat segmental joint plate 4, thecurved edge of which is preferably made to closely fitthe curved innerend walls of the said seats. The said curved inner end walls of theseats 3 flare inwardly and out but very slightly through the outersurface or periphery of the piston ring.

The joint plate 4 is secured to one end of a thin fiat leaf spring 5,the other end of which is attached to the inner surface of one endportion of the piston ring, preferably by a single rivet 6 that affordsa pivot permitting the said spring and joint plate to be turnedlaterally into an inoperative position shown in Fig. 1, when the saidplate is sprung inward out of engagement with the seats 3. This permitsthe seats 3 and plate 4 to be readily cleaned of carbon or othercollected dirt.

The depth of the joint plate 4 is such that the spring 5 will be heldpressed away from the abutting ends of the piston ring, when the pistonring is inserted in a cylinder, and the edge of said plate 4 is thenpressed against the surface of the cylinder by the said spring. A tightjoint is thus maintained between the ends of the piston ring and thecylinder and plate 4. As the piston ring wears away, the ends thereofwill separate slightlyand the joint plate 4 will be moved outward by thespring 5, so that it will maintain its engagement with the cylinder.

The piston ring described, while of simple construction, has in practicebeen found efficient for the purposes had in view.

What I claim is 1. Av piston ring split at one point an provided at itsabutting ends with inwardly diverging seats that terminate close to theends of the outer cylindrical surfaces of said split ring, and a leafspring attached at one endto one of the end portions of said ring, andprovided with a joint plate having inwardly diverging edge surfacesclosely fitting the inwardly diverging seats in the ends of said ringand yieldingly pressed outward by said spring.

2. A piston ring split at one point and provided at its abutting endswith inwardly diverging seats that terminate close to the outercylindrical surfaces of the ends of said split ring, and a leaf springattached at one end to one end portion of said ring and provided with ajoint plate havinginwardly diverging edge surfaces closely fit- Intestimony whereof I aflix my signature ting the seats in dthe ends dofbsaid sing and in presence of two Witnesses.

yieldingl presse outWar y sai spring,

the said spring being capable of pivotal AXEL FOSSTON' 5 movement, so asto turn the said joint plate into an inoperative position at one side ofsaid ring.

Witnesses:

F. D. MERCHANT, HARRY D. KILeoRE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G.

